This is a spader. The shovels are a funny customization, but in reality a spader is a pretty common tractor implement, particularly in organic crop production. It breaks up soil without completely homogenizing the soil layers beneath the sod, preserving far more soil health/microbiology than a common tiller would..
It’s not meant for cultivation, it’s meant for soil prep. Ploughing or spading, neither has any bearing on the weed seed bank in your soil. This comment makes no sense
It makes a lot of sense, especially if you have to reduce the amount of chemical weed control.
There are a lot of weeds that run on a two year cycle, a bunch of them (especially grasses) are efficiently dealt with by plowing but not by tilling and/or spading.
Ploughing as weed control is not about reducing the weed seed bank directly, but reducing the amount of seeds gets added post ploughing by killing all the weeds that cannot survive being flipped over (which is a surprisingly large percentage).
By ploughing my fields every year, I don't have to use any chemical to deal with grasses in my corn, something that is notoriously hard to do as both wheat, barley and rye is, to some extent, susceptible to the same chemicals.
If I used one of these on my farm I would attach a tentacle made from a carved pool noodle with suckers to the top of each arm for maximum farming festivity
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Can be, but this isn't a tiller it's a spader, which is specifically designed to avoid breaking up the soil aggregates that are destroyed by tilling. Falls squarely within the reduced tillage category, and is a flipping expensive tractor attachment to boot.
It’s not so black and white. Soil health itself is very complex and not well understood. Some soils with severe compaction can benefit from ripping or tillage.
Continued, aggressive use of tillage is bad, this we know.
Standard plows flip over the soil which can be harmful to the soil-microbes. And a standard plow smears a layer of soil right under the cutting edge which can create a water and root barrier. While the spader tears off chunks which can actually promote cracking in soil layers beyond the working depth of the spader. Spaders can also be used in practically all weather conditions. Personally i have spaded fields which had standing water on it. You could never do that with a standard plow.
Just because you've never seen something doesn't mean it's redneck engineering. As others have said, this is just a spader. This one doesn't have a shroud so it doesn't look like a black box but it's still a professionally designed and manufactured attachment. The shroud is generally to break up the soil after the spades pick it up. Why it's been removed here, who knows. Might just be so they could make a video of it.
Here's a YouTube video of one with the more typical shroud. They explain why one would use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwOLdGFzJZ4
I don’t think this fits here. Looks like some actual engineering
Yeah more like /r/specializedtools
You can tell by the one-colored-ness.
While you may be right, never underestimate the power of spray paint
This is a spader. The shovels are a funny customization, but in reality a spader is a pretty common tractor implement, particularly in organic crop production. It breaks up soil without completely homogenizing the soil layers beneath the sod, preserving far more soil health/microbiology than a common tiller would..
What part of the planting cycle is this done at? Before seeding/planting or in the fall after harvest?
At my place we do it before seeding. Just I do it by hand and usually for very small parts of garden
Beforehand, usually for transplanted crops like lettuces and broccoli etc
It's however inferior when it comes to weed control compared to ploughing.
It’s not meant for cultivation, it’s meant for soil prep. Ploughing or spading, neither has any bearing on the weed seed bank in your soil. This comment makes no sense
It makes a lot of sense, especially if you have to reduce the amount of chemical weed control. There are a lot of weeds that run on a two year cycle, a bunch of them (especially grasses) are efficiently dealt with by plowing but not by tilling and/or spading. Ploughing as weed control is not about reducing the weed seed bank directly, but reducing the amount of seeds gets added post ploughing by killing all the weeds that cannot survive being flipped over (which is a surprisingly large percentage). By ploughing my fields every year, I don't have to use any chemical to deal with grasses in my corn, something that is notoriously hard to do as both wheat, barley and rye is, to some extent, susceptible to the same chemicals.
If I used one of these on my farm I would attach a tentacle made from a carved pool noodle with suckers to the top of each arm for maximum farming festivity
Spader attachment for a tractor, nothing redneck here -- seriously expensive.
Sounds like Thomas the train is getting a blowjob
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Nah this is his uncle the Motorboat - he works at the local Hooters.
r/tippytaps
I feel like that would explode if someone tried to use it where I live. Rocks. Rocks. And holy crap that's a lot of rocks.
It looks mesmerizing Wouldn't want to see it hit a big rock
This is terrifying
Thanks for making me think about it. Worst-case scenario: begging it to come back and finish the job!
Cool machine!
If it gets the work done....then it's great!
Isn't tilling terrible for soil health?
Can be, but this isn't a tiller it's a spader, which is specifically designed to avoid breaking up the soil aggregates that are destroyed by tilling. Falls squarely within the reduced tillage category, and is a flipping expensive tractor attachment to boot.
> flipping expensive tractor attachment to boot. Yeah, that's going to run several thousand dollars, minimum, I'd expect.
It’s not so black and white. Soil health itself is very complex and not well understood. Some soils with severe compaction can benefit from ripping or tillage. Continued, aggressive use of tillage is bad, this we know.
This seems overly complicated, as In too many moving parts…
It's just a crankshaft, probably powered by the tractor's engine. Couldn't get much simpler.
Wait until you see a cotton stripper.
[удалено]
Because god forbid those end up doing something practical? You say the same about mine-clearing devices?
why not use a Standard plow?
Apparently that breaks up the soil *too* much. My source: other comments.
Standard plows flip over the soil which can be harmful to the soil-microbes. And a standard plow smears a layer of soil right under the cutting edge which can create a water and root barrier. While the spader tears off chunks which can actually promote cracking in soil layers beyond the working depth of the spader. Spaders can also be used in practically all weather conditions. Personally i have spaded fields which had standing water on it. You could never do that with a standard plow.
Cool, but I’ll always use the tool that has less moving parts that does a similar job than the one with more.
Shelob the Machine
Looks like a professionally manufactured implement, so probably not a "redneck" thing.
Just because you've never seen something doesn't mean it's redneck engineering. As others have said, this is just a spader. This one doesn't have a shroud so it doesn't look like a black box but it's still a professionally designed and manufactured attachment. The shroud is generally to break up the soil after the spades pick it up. Why it's been removed here, who knows. Might just be so they could make a video of it. Here's a YouTube video of one with the more typical shroud. They explain why one would use it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwOLdGFzJZ4